Coast Guard orders $113.7 million replacement of Base Kodiak's drinking water lines

The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday, Oct. 29, obligated $113.7 million to Gilbane Federal of Concord, Calif., to design and build replacement waterlines at Base Kodiak, with work running through October 2031, according to the federal award record.

The pipes are the base's sole provider of drinking and firefighting water, the Coast Guard says. Its final environmental assessment, published Jan. 29, describes an aging, 28-mile underground system serving about 3,500 customers, including private partners connected to the base. The assessment found the project would have no significant environmental impact, and the Coast Guard said it would go ahead.

The base draws its water from Buskin Lake and treats it before sending it through pipes and storage tanks, according to its 2025 water quality report. A 2024 inventory found no known lead service lines, the report says.

The award is a delivery order issued under an existing Coast Guard contract held by several firms. Those firms competed for this order, and four made offers, the record shows. The $113.7 million is what has been obligated so far, not what has been spent, and federal postings can trail the actions they record by weeks.

Gilbane already holds a September 2023 Coast Guard order for design and construction of the Kodiak OPC FRC Phase II project, named for the offshore patrol cutters and fast response cutters. Twelve changes have grown that order from $106 million to $131.3 million, and it runs through September 2027. Separately, a $2.5 million contract to Bering Straits Development Co. of Nome covers repair of drinking water piping in the base's Lower Government Hill housing area.

Alaska News reported Sept. 28 that the Coast Guard had ordered about $458 million in new work at Base Kodiak this year, led by a $315 million fuel pier and cutter berths.

Local officials have discussed what that growth means for Kodiak's own utilities. "The Coast Guard pretty much has their own water and sewer," then-Assembly member Steve Ames said at the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly's Aug. 6 meeting, before turning to concerns about electric costs.

Assembly member Jeremiah Gardner said at a Sept. 10 work session that arriving Coast Guard families would put more stress on schools, roads and other systems before enough housing is built, and that the Coast Guard needs to invest in the community as well as its base. Borough Mayor Jared Griffin told the Assembly on Oct. 1 that about 40% of Coast Guard bases sit in rural communities that lack the deep utility systems, major hospitals and tax base larger cities use to absorb such growth. He pointed to the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, which can help fund civilian infrastructure that supports military readiness.